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Industry Benchmark Performance
We expected October to be volatile, but it took a bigger toll on the overall market, and our programs, than we had expected. Early reporting of funds tends to be the better results, so we expect larger losses than are shown in the industry summary below. All except the equity multi-strategy programs are posting net losses for 2018, and even those results might … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
An uninspiring month shows mostly losses and a few marginal gains in both equity and futures programs for the Industry. Given that the major equity index markets are up 10% to 20%, it’s a disappointing performance. The problem is that capturing the trend isn’t as easy as looking at a chart after-the-fact. We expect the 4th quarter to be better, as we show in our … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
Early reporting of equity long programs shows that a new leg in the bull market translates into hedge fund gains. All the funds that we follow posted profits in August, but year-to-date still lags the passive indices by a long way. CTAs had a much better month, allowing them to reduce losses. The last quarter of the year tends to be good for trading, so the final … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
Equity funds added a little to their gains for the year, with Equity Long funds up 2%. CTAs continue to struggle. All categories of CTAs are posting small losses for July and all are down for 2018.
Blogs and Recent Publications
Find this at the end of this report. We post new interviews and reference new articles each month.
July Performance in Brief
After … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
Reporting is only in for futures, with the BTOP 50 showing a gain of 0.67% and the SG Index a gain of 0.44%. A few equity hedge funds have reported, but then the ones with better performance tend to post faster, so we’ll look for very little change in June, much like the SPY, which was up 0.57%.
Blogs and Recent Publications
Find this at the end of this … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
Small gains in most hedge funds and 2018 returns on both sides of zero. Futures CTAs are not doing any better, with small gains and slightly larger losses for the year. Short-term trading seems to be doing better, if only with positive returns for the year.
Blogs and Recent Publications
Find this at the end of this report. We post new interviews and reference … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
Due to the holiday, equity performance has not yet been updated. We will post industry performance as soon as it is available.
Futures posted minor losses in March, similar to our own performance. This will also be updated.
Blogs and Recent Publications
Find this at the end of this report. We post new interviews and reference new articles each month.
March … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
We would like to see futures profitable when the stock market drops, but that’s not yet the case. If equities keep moving lower, futures programs will short the equity index markets and, with leverage, produce enough profits to offset stock losses. That doesn’t happen at the start of a sell-off, and we have no reason to believe (yet) that the sell-off will … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
In the table below, January’s returns are shown in the left column, and the 2017 returns to the right.
A good start for 2018, especially for futures. Equity hedge funds gained from 1.93% to 3.37% for program similar to ours, although ours were up by 6% to 8% in January. Also, one of the best starts in futures for the industry, ranging from 4% to 6%, but falling … [Read more...]

Industry Benchmark Performance
Another good month for the hedge fund index, but lagging 10% behind the S&P. Long-only equities did a bit better while other equity funds posted good, but lower returns. We understand that the purpose of the funds is to have steady returns and protect against drawdowns. If that works, then a lower profit in 2017 is easy to accept.
CTAs ended, on average, … [Read more...]